


home has a heartbeat

by matskreider



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 2018 Off Season, Emotional Healing, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, M/M, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 18:32:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14816642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matskreider/pseuds/matskreider
Summary: The offseason is here; Eddie can finally go home.





	home has a heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

> much thanks to [charlie](https://kesselin.tumblr.com/) for beta'ing. <3

Florida rain isn’t like rain in other places; it nearly flash floods from the sky and then disappears without a trace. He’s seen hard rains before. But Florida rain never trickles to a stop. It comes and goes as it wants to. So when it stops suddenly, filling the night instead with quiet, Eddie wakes up in the silence.

The room around him is dark, filled with vague shapes of various bedroom decorations: a guitar leaning against the wall in the corner, the smooth curves reflecting the security lights outside; a tall lamp with the head curved down, guarding over the desk; the sharp yet homey angles of the bedside table, supporting a few forgotten bottles of water and a pair of glasses Lu doesn’t want to admit that he actually needs. It’s a far cry from his Jersey apartment, left sterile and mostly untouched. He’d been debating moving up from a condo, back in Raleigh, to afford himself the comfort that came with belonging. He’d even made sure to look for ones with a safe backyard, so Bella would be able to play without harm. But then the trade happened, and Bella died, and he felt that hole in his chest that had been there since 2014 tug open just a little bit wider.

His heart hurt, and continues to hurt, even as he ended the season much closer to Lu than when he had started, but still farther away than Raleigh. Still farther away than sharing a hotel room for every away game. Still farther away, ever still.

He rubs his eyes, looking up at the ceiling in the dark. The fan moves lazily over the bed, an old-fashioned back up to the central air cooling the house. He guesses it’s on for nostalgia, or for the feeling of air moving through the room rather than just a cool, still room. Eddie holds his hand up against the moving blades, watching the dark blur in the gap between his fingers.

His mom tells him often that lingering on pain means you get hurt twice. In some situations, though, he thinks he might want to. Looking to his right, he sees Lu still asleep, his curls a complete mess on his pillow. One arm is wrapped around the pillow beneath his head, the other resting over Eddie’s torso in a sleepy, possessive grip. Eddie had flown down in the middle of the night, catching a red eye after Lu had arrived back in Florida after their win in Boston. He’d had just enough time to shower and crawl into bed, and Lu hadn’t even woken up all the way – just sighed in contentment and pulled Eddie closer.

He doesn’t want to wake him up, but sleep has long since left his realm of possibility, so he gently extracts himself from Lu’s grip and makes his way downstairs. The house is dark and still, the low hum of the air conditioning keeping him from feeling the raging humidity outside. He slides open the back door, sticking a hand outside, palm up, expectant. Rain water drips off the overhang, collecting in his palm. He watches the droplets roll around his palm, before overturning his hand, watching them fall to the wooden deck. Eddie retreats back into the kitchen, padding over to the coffee maker and brewing a pot.

It too is quiet, like the house knows he doesn’t want to wake the rightful owner. Eddie selects a mug from the cabinet by his right shoulder. He spins it in his fingers, remembering the craftsman. It, and several others in that cabinet, had come from a pottery place that he knew was only in Vancouver. He sets it on the counter, as if somehow drinking out of it will bring him back to simpler times. He crosses his arms, turning to stand with his back to the counter, the only light in the kitchen the blue light of the coffee makers buttons and the lights outside.

He doesn’t know how Lu does it. His season had been riddled with injuries, coming one after the next. Yet he insists that he’ll be back better than ever next season. Eddie knows Lu will take a month off: one blissful, relaxing month off from the gym and from physical exertion, to let his body and mind heal. He knows he should be training as much as he can so maybe he can make it back to the NHL next season. He thinks he could do it, if he works smart enough – enough to hone his skills but not exhaust his body during what should be a resting period. The coffee maker finishes with a long beep, and he swiftly silences it with a push of a button. He prepares his coffee routinely, knowing where everything in Lu’s kitchen is, even more familiar than he knows his own apartment.

A bitter laugh escapes him then. He’s spent more time in Lu’s place than his own, of course he would know where things are. At least Lu hasn’t traded him for something better, something different. He didn’t get an offer from Tre Kronor this year, he recalls as he stirs in his sugar. Even playing third fiddle to Hank had been better than the silence that greeted him when Binghamton’s season ended.

He takes a sip, feeling it warm him from the inside out. He doesn’t want to linger on his disappointments. Not here, in a place that gives him so much happiness. He settles his attention on the third to the left seat on the island, where Lu had blown Eddie for the first time once he bought a house again in Florida. He’d been over to talk to Lu to see where they stood after being moved so far apart. Lu called him sweetheart, held his hips in his hands, and backed him against the island until he could go no further.

Eddie closes his eyes at the memory. That could wait until Lu was at least conscious, and he wasn’t desperate enough yet to go upstairs to wake him just for that.

Other important things had happened this season, though. Lu reached 1,000 career NHL games, only the third to ever do so. He broke a tie for fourth in career wins of all time. He did all of that while dealing with injuries and the simple fact that his body is getting older. Lu had done wonderfully, even if they’d been just a point short of getting into the playoffs.

Everyone compliments Eddie on keeping his chin up and being relentlessly positive, but they don’t see how Lu is too. He covers it up with sarcasm and edgy comments through Twitter and interviews, but he remains positive. Then again, Eddie kinda likes being the only one that knows Lu like this.

He finally finishes his coffee, but he’s too wired now to even think about going back to sleep. He steps out onto the back deck, intent on watching the sunrise near Sunrise.

That’s where Lu finds him, two hours later, slumped over on the table. He wakes up to Lu laughingly calling him “ _polpetto,_ ” as he shakes his shoulder to wake him. He didn’t think he was going to fall asleep. He looks up at Lu to defend himself, but Lu’s looking at him like he’d put the sun in the sky, or something more than just pass out on his patio furniture, and it’s a lot first thing in the morning.

He rubs his eyes, trying to brush off the remnants of sleep. “Morning,” he manages, his back cracking as he stretches. Eddie feels Lu wrap his arms around him, gently kissing his temple.

“A good morning indeed,” he murmurs, nuzzling along Eddie’s cheekbone. “I thought I dreamed you.”

Eddie looks at him out of the corner of his eye. His curls are loose and free, and it makes him look at least 5 years younger. The Florida sun has been good to him, and Eddie hates that he can’t even try to be selfish enough to ask Lu to give this up for him. So instead he cups his cheek and gives him a toothy grin. “That line stopped working on me a long while ago, love.”

Lu gives him a look that sends a shiver up his spine. “No. It didn’t.” He softly kisses the pulse point on Eddie’s wrist, before pulling his hand away from his face. “Come on, lovely. I want breakfast.”

Eddie pliantly stands and follows him through the wall of cold air the air conditioning creates in the doorway. The kitchen looks the same as it had before, but there are two mugs in the sink instead of only his own. “How long were you watching?” he asks, reaching up into the cabinet to grab two plates.

“Long enough to finish my coffee.” Lu opens the refrigerator and pulls out cheese, peppers, tomatoes, eggs, and bacon, setting each on the counter. Eddie meets him halfway with the olive oil – in a fancy glass bottle stripped of a label, kept in a basket on the island like it’s his pride and joy – and some oregano just because. Eddie dices the vegetables while Lu cooks the bacon, the sizzling fat and cut of the knife the only sounds between the two of them. Lu sways a little bit against Eddie, sighing softly as he rubs his cheek on the bare skin exposed by his tank top. His beard isn’t long enough that the hairs are smooth, instead a bit scratchy, but Eddie doesn’t mind.

It’s this little slice of life that he usually tucks away to get him through their months apart. He harvests these moments with a sort of desperate hunger, needing to preserve every moment that he can. He pushes Lu to mark him up, to bruise him, so he has physical reminders of his time back home. He doesn’t do that now, instead resting his cheek on Lu’s curls, nuzzling in softly and smelling his shampoo and conditioner, something he’d kept the same even from Vancouver. Eddie slices off a strip of orange bell pepper and offers it to Lu, who nibbles on it like a rabbit, causing Eddie to laugh.

Quickly, the omelets are finished and plated. Eddie pours them both orange juice, in the plastic wine glasses Lu likes to keep for the beach. He gives Lu a mock curtsey as he hands him his glass, and gets a kiss on his knuckles for the trouble. They eat breakfast in silence, Eddie resting his foot on one of the rungs on Lu’s chair, and Lu doing the same. Eddie still feels an ache in his chest, but he’s able to table it for the time being. There’s no room for darkness in sunlight.

 

* * *

 

Eddie spends the day alone in Lu’s house while he’s out conducting final interviews and clean out stuff. He already knows Lu won’t be jetting off for Worlds anytime soon. It’s nice to be able to count on the fact that he’ll be coming home. It’s nice to _be_ home, too.

Normally, he’d get out in the world, go shopping and see some friends. The teammates he has in Binghamton aren’t quite ones he feels comfortable going to see, and he’s all the way in Florida anyway. While a few years ago he could have gone out through Parkland and the surrounding areas, now he has to be more careful. He’d changed his bio on both Twitter and Instagram to keep from drawing suspicion, that the fans were right and there _was_ something between him and Lu. Being spotted wandering around south Florida immediately after the Panthers season had ended was a surefire way to get himself in trouble.

He lingers in the house, tracing over small knickknacks that Lu had picked up during their months apart, the only sound the soft noise of his socks on hardwood and tile. There aren’t many pictures. Lu has some from his childhood and some of family members - Eddie knows how Pasqualina likes to hold on to as many memories as possible – and a few of teammates here and there. The gold medal pictures from Vancouver and Sochi have their own place as well, tucked away in what is part office space, part storage space.

He thinks of a few pictures he could add. The selfie that he’d gotten while he was eating ice cream on South Beach, and Lu photobombing him. The picture that Skinny had taken of them – unbeknownst to Eddie at the time – with their foreheads pressed together in the hallway after Eddie’s first game as a Cane against the Panthers. The photobooth pictures they’d had taken last year in Vegas, on a night before the draft and they decided to have some fun, including Eddie kissing Lu on the cheek, and Lu returning the favor, on the lips, with tongue. He thinks of a few more pictures that don’t exist quite yet, but he’d love to have.

He won’t jeopardize the future by envisioning it now, though. If it happens, it happens, and it will happen in the way it’s meant to. He has to believe in that.

Eddie’s midway through going through Lu’s closet for stuff he doesn’t wear anymore – stuff Eddie knows he’s welcome to help himself to – when he hears the garage door opening. It’s earlier than he would have thought, but when he hears two voices instead of just Lu’s, he’s filled with a sense of trepidation. Maybe he can just stay in the closet, and hope that they don’t come upstairs, much less into the master bedroom. Maybe he can dart across the hall into the untouched guest room, and make it look like he spent the night. Should he go downstairs and face the music? Should he let them know he’s even there?

He’s paralyzed with fear, listening for accents or age, trying to place who Lu could have brought back with him. But they only stay for a few moments, long enough for Lu to grab something out of the fridge, and then the door’s closing. He waits with baited breath for a minute longer, before gingerly standing, making his way to the door of the closet. He can hear Lu walking up the stairs, subtly favoring his right hip.

“Eddie?”

“Y-yeah, in here.” The stutter normally went away in moments like this, in moments when it was just the two of them. Unless they were talking about something that Eddie wasn’t comfortable using English for, which happened once or twice, sometimes about recipes, other times about places and memories back in Sweden.

Lu rounds the corner into the master bedroom, and gives Eddie a puzzled look. “Were you already in there?”

Eddie mutely nods, biting his lower lip.

“It was just Eks, babe,” he explains, gesturing behind him as if Aaron was still present. “He left a case at my house a few days ago, he was just coming to pick it up.”

Eddie doesn’t say much of anything, but nods again. “Th-that’s good, ehm, for him.”

Lu narrows his eyes at him, stepping slowly forward. He’s not threatening, not in just jeans and a simple black v-neck, but rather…suspicious. “Why are you so nervous?”

“I just didn’t know who it was,” he murmurs. He wants to hold his ground, but he’s weak when it comes to Lu, and after their time apart he doesn’t want to stay any further away than he has to. He leans down and buries his face in Lu’s neck, wrapping his arms around his waist instead. He hears Lu sigh, but long fingers soon make their way into his hair, gently rubbing at the softness.

“I know it sucks being a secret,” Lu admits after a few moments. “But you won’t have to be for much longer, babe. Promise.”

Eddie closes his eyes tighter, not daring to hope that it means what he thinks it means. That he’ll have a future in the NHL, or at least will have a team that wants to keep him around, and that Lu will be there with him every step of the way. He hopes that Lu will retire on a successful note, or at least one that is his own choice. He’d hate to see Lu’s lengthy and wonderful career dim and become ravaged over the course of time, like Jagr’s had been. He’d also hate to see Lu’s body make the decision for him, like so many other players in the past. He’d much rather have Lu come to the decision himself before it was too late.

But he’d also like to walk in the sun, holding Lu’s hand, like other lovers get to do. He’d like to be just another couple, he thinks. He’d like to keep the magic between the two of them. “I was thinking about the kinds of pictures you were missing. Like, between all the other kinds.”

Lu pulls back a bit to give him an encouraging smile. “Oh yeah? What did you think of?”

Eddie blushes, but tells him the ones that came to mind. Lu laughs, stepping out of Eddie’s grasp but taking his hand, tugging him along to the stairs. “Those are quite the ideas, babe.”

“Like you had anything better planned.”

“Won’t know for a few years yet, love.”

 

* * *

 

Once Lu’s officially done with summer stuff for the Panthers, he and Eddie are free for the summer. The world is their oyster, and Eddie tries to keep that in mind as he aimlessly spins the globe in Lu’s office, as if that’s how it works. They have beaches where they live, and neither of them are craving any sort of cold right then, but returning to Sweden or Canada seems to be too much. Eddie’s not ready to let go of Lu in the interest of the public eye. But they need to go somewhere, because Lu doesn’t want to stay in Parkland for much longer, and Eddie can’t blame him.

They set out to catch a flight at 6am, land at 11am, promptly shower, and then go grocery shopping to stock up on the necessities for the following two weeks. They like to switch up who cooks, so each takes the reins for a few meals, splitting the end total. Eddie opens the pint of Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked as soon as they’re in the rental car, and Lu gives him an affectionate sigh, before stealing a spoonful.

As they drive on the main drag along the island, Eddie looks out the window, watching the beach houses pass by. He wonders if there’s anyone who even cares about hockey here. He knows that the Canes are only about a three-hour drive inland, but they’re in basketball country now. They’re as safe as they can be, staying this close to home. He closes the pint, putting it back in the plastic bags behind him, and reaches over to take Lu’s hand in his.

Lu gently squeezes in affirmation, and Eddie feels his heart pound.  

When they get to the beach house, Eddie puts the food away and Lu opens a bottle of wine. Eddie’s not a wine connoisseur, but Lu is, and he trusts him. It mixes in a weird way with the cookie dough still trapped in his teeth, but it makes him warm from the inside out, and he’s not one to complain.

“Day drinking on a Sunday? Your mother would be ashamed,” Eddie teases. Lu comes up behind him and sets his glass on the counter, wrapping his arms around him.

“It’s the Lord’s day. This is the blood of his Son. I’m sure it counts,” Lu replies to Eddie’s shoulder blades.

“Oh yes, my mistake.”

Eddie leans back against Lu, forcing the Canadian to hook his chin over Eddie’s shoulder. The house is mostly white and hardwood, as is common beach décor. It’s far from the livable comfort of Lu’s house, but for a moment, Eddie thinks he could get used to this. Maybe have a few kids running around somewhere, be it their own or nieces and nephews from Lu’s brothers; hell, even the little pitter patter of dog paws would be welcome.

“Hey,” Lu murmurs, lips brushing Eddie’s ear. “I can hear you thinking. What’s going on?”

“…I miss Bella.”

Lu tightens his grip around Eddie for a few moments, and Eddie snuggles in closer. “I miss her too, sweetheart.”

“I was just thinking about how quiet it is without her here. And then I started thinking about kids, but. That’s a long way off for us both.”

Lu hums, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and outside the overcast sky continues to darken. Perhaps they brought the rain with them.

Eventually they separate, Eddie to make the chicken and Lu to manage the vegetables for the side. By the time dinner is ready, Eddie’s starting to feel the wine, lightweight that he is. Lu’s a glass or two behind Eddie, but that’s because he knows how to pace himself. Eddie never bothered to learn, but as he and Lu sit outside beneath the overhang on their deck and watch the thunderstorm roll in over the sound, he figures it’s a lesson he can continue to miss. At some point, they finish, their dishes piled on Adirondack side table between the two chairs, and it’s at this point that Eddie reaches for Lu’s hand. Lu gives it to him, but Eddie’s not content simply resting while the storm rolls in. He trails his fingers up along Lu’s wrists, gently feeling over the veins and tendons close to the surface. He feels the way Lu automatically tries to pull back, before overriding the instinct; the look he gives him, though, is nothing but primal.

Eddie stands, Lu following his lead. Lightning briefly illuminates the space between the two of them, everything around them painted a flat, brilliant white, rendered dimensionless in their world for the first time. They go inside, Lu sliding the plates into the island sink, Eddie continuing into the bedroom. The pale blue sheets are soft beneath his fingers, but Lu’s hair is even softer.

Lu joins him on the bed, nudging at his shoulder so he rolls flat on his back. Eddie reaches up, pulling Lu into a kiss that’s equal parts wine drunk and lightning buzzed, hitching one leg up over Lu’s waist in an effort to bring him down flat against him. Lu obliges, grinding against Eddie in a way that makes him moan. They’ve done this a thousand times, in a hundred different places, but every time feels like the first for Eddie.  

Outside, thunder cracks loudly, almost shaking the foundation of the house. In a distant sort of way, Eddie thinks he can get behind the idea of having sex outside. He trails his fingers up Lu’s torso, pulling up his shirt as he goes. Lu returns the favor, cupping the back of Eddie’s neck and hauling him up to kiss him. He grinds down, and Eddie whimpers, knowing very well where this will go. They don’t often have the time to play like this, during the season. They never have the time to really drag things out, even during bye weeks and other breaks. Family and teammates often get in the way, so this, he supposes, in an offhand kind of way, is as special for Lu as it is for him. It’s something to be treasured.

His thinking shuts off when Lu sneaks a hand between them, cupping him through his shorts. Eddie pants, open mouthed, his forehead resting against Lu’s. It’s no use trying to muffle himself, and besides; Lu doesn’t like it when he’s too quiet anyway. Lu pushes him back down to the bed, undoing his shorts, teasing Eddie through the light fabric. That’s all it is, really; just a tease, but it has Eddie’s back arching slightly off the bed, trying to get closer.

Lu laughs softly, and Eddie feels his face burn in a weird combination of shame and arousal. “So needy for it,” he muses. Eddie nods in useless agreement, biting his lower lip as he tries to shimmy out of his pants, speeding up the process. Lu grabs his wrists, pausing the movement. “Shhh. It’s okay, love. We don’t have to rush; it’s just us.”

He repeats himself as he kisses at Eddies’ neck, nibbling teasingly at his collarbones, pinching his nipples, sucking on small bits of skin here and there. By the time he sees fit to take Eddie’s dick into his mouth, Eddie’s trembling, his fingers buried in Lu’s soft black curls. He closes his eyes, trying to keep himself contained. He’s 30 years old, but with Lu’s hands holding onto his hips and his mouth working him over, he feels like he did the first time they fell into bed together. Unexperienced, untethered, unrestrained; he finally felt free.

Now, years later, wine drunk and on the verge of coming, he lets out a half mumbled, “Lu, wait.” Lu obediently pulls back, smirking at Eddie, way too in control for someone with Eddie’s dick still resting against his lips.

“ _Fuck,_ I don’t…I don’t wanna come like this,” he explains in a haphazard way. “Please.”

Lu wraps his hand around Eddie’s cock, slowly jerking him off as he thinks. He twists his hand one way then another, the callouses from years of playing and conditioning drawing a sob from Eddie.

“We have all of two weeks, love,” Lu coos, rubbing one such callous over Eddie’s slit. “Two weeks to do whatever, two weeks to stay in bed if we want.” He lowers his head to the jut of Eddie’s hipbone, pressing his teeth into the skin there.

It’s all Eddie can do not to come. “L-lu…. ** _please._** ”

“Shhhh. I said we don’t have to rush.” Lu looks up at him then, brown eyes impossibly dark, and he squeezes enough that Eddie’s helpless but to watch as precum pours freely down over Lu’s thumb, easing the slide. Then he lets go, and Eddie can’t help the sob as Lu sits up, leaving him untouched.

The wine is burning out of his system now, making him more horny than coordinated. He tries to reach down, only to be thwarted by Lu’s grasp again, this time pinning his wrists on the bed beside his hips. He clicks his tongue at him, outwardly disappointed by his neediness. “Behave.”

Lightning flashes as Lu orders him to settle down, briefly illuminating the angles of his face in the same strange flat white as before. He’s not sure what Lu sees when he looks down at him, but between one instant and the next, Eddie’s being kissed again, with a hunger and desperation that leaves Eddie’s lips bitten raw. Lu drags his nails down his ribs, marking him up. “You gonna be good for me, lovely?” Lu asks as he makes his way down his body, biting here and there, until he’s back by Eddie’s neglected cock.

Eddies whimpers, knowing how close he is to the edge. “Y-yes.”

“Good boy.” He swallows him down again, and Eddie feels tears welling in his eyes. He tightens his grip on the sheets, rocking his hips up. Lu lets him fuck his mouth for a little bit, before he pins Eddie’s hips down to the bed, swallowing around him with a long hum. Eddie’s about to come when Lu pulls off him again, squeezing at his base to keep him from coming.

The tears fall freely now, Eddie resolutely not moving his hands from the sheets but instead launching into an explicative ridden plea, entirely in Swedish, for Lu to give him what he wants. A few drops of rain hit the window, the clouds close to bursting. Eddie can relate. He can only watch, helplessly, as Lu gets up from the bed, stripping himself of the rest of his clothing. He’s hard too, and Eddie’s mouth waters at the sight. He’d take anything right now, if it would get Lu’s hands back on him.

Lu lazily jerks himself off, getting on the other side of the bed, just watching him. Eddie can’t help the way he licks his lips, wanting to sit up and get his mouth on Lu, or beg him for his mouth instead. Lu looks at him with a smirk, one that makes Eddie’s cock twitch, and that gets him another laugh. “Come here.”

Eddie scrambles to follow the direction, getting another laugh. He bites his lower lip as he straddles Lu’s lap, kissing him with a low whimper. He holds himself up, cock dripping a little bit, but that’s not what Lu wants. He pulls him down, making Eddie’s breath hitch as their dicks touch. Usually this is the moment where Lu gives him more instruction, or laughs and tells him if he can’t get off like this then he can’t get off at all.

Instead, he wraps his hand around both of them, too busy putting his tongue in Eddie’s mouth to bother explaining what he wants. Recklessly, Eddie bucks his hips, making both of them groan at the feeling. Lu sits up and Eddie wraps his arms around his shoulders, leaning more fully on him as he does it again. It’s almost immature, getting off this way, but it’s just the two of them. There’s no audience for this, but the thought of there being one makes Eddie tremble against Lu’s body.

He gets himself off this way, kissing Lu like everything depends on it, with the same rushed feeling that hangs over every one of their interactions during the season. It feels better this time, with Lu’s hand wrapped around his dick and his neck, where he can feel the way they both moan upon Eddie’s release. Lu doesn’t come, though, and Eddie finally pulls back, exhausted enough to look down between them. He hears Lu’s murmured, “Good boy,” above him, the kind of praise that makes his heart sing.

He wants to move down and get Lu off, but he’s not sure if there’s more plans to be had. Looking up to Lu just gets him a smile – soft and content, despite the very obvious mess on his abdomen. So Eddie lowers his head, licking up the mess he made. Lu offers him his hand, and Eddie wastes no time laving over the sticky trails there too. He looks up at Lu through his lashes as he sucks on his thumb, flicking his tongue just so.

“Wanna get me off?” Lu asks, voice deep. The rain picks up outside, sheets of water dousing the entire house. The world continues to rage outside, but here, in this yellow lit bedroom, it’s just the two of them. Eddie nods, pulling off of Lu’s hand, and lowers his head to finish the job he started.

Lu slides his dry hand into Eddie’s hair, tugging ever so slightly as Eddie pleasures him. By the time Eddie’s work is done, his mouth tastes like both of them, the salty flavors inducing a different kind of drunkenness. He rests his head on Lu’s chest, laying beside him, warm and pliant.

They stay curled up together for a few moments more, each catching their breath. Lu’s left arm is the one wrapped around Eddie’s shoulders, and he traces over the palm of his relaxed hand. He loves Lu’s hands. They’re worn in just the right places, but still so strong and skilled. Eddie hopes he’ll be this good when he’s Lu’s age – hell, he’ll take even a fraction of the skill and career that Lu’s had. He fails to see how being sent between the AHL and NHL will get him there.

Trying to escape the invasive thoughts, he rolls more fully into Lu’s embrace, whining softly. Lu, bless him, doesn’t ask. He holds him tighter, humming something softly under his breath. At some point, Eddie must’ve dozed off, because he wakes up when the bed jostles.

Lu pauses mid-step to the bathroom. “I was gonna shower, if you want…?” he offers, extending a hand back toward where Eddie’s still lying on the bed. It doesn’t take too long to convince himself to get up from the warm sheets, but it does take a fair bit longer for him to convince Lu to wash his hair as well.

By the time they’re clean and dried off, the rain outside appears to have tapered off. If Eddie listens close enough, he thinks he can still hear the faint sound of light misting, but it’s possible that it’s only the water dripping off the eaves. He’s wearing a pair of his own boxers, but one of Lu’s sweatshirts, and he walks from their bedroom out to the living room, watching the storm fade out through the massive windows.

So the season hadn’t gone the way he wanted it to. He’d missed being able to play against Lu by a mere few hours, his call up not lasting long enough to warrant him staying in Newark. Lu had gotten hurt, several times over the course of the season, and his community had suffered an insurmountable tragedy.

But they had each other. As cliché as it sounds, at whatever time it is, it’s what had gotten him through the season. It’s what kept getting him through the season. He wonders if it eventually won’t be enough.

Behind him, he hears the sound of the fridge opening, then the other fridge door opening, then both of them closing and finally the freezer drawer opening. “You’re not very good at being a spy,” he teases, turning around just as Lu kicks the door closed, a pint of ice cream in his hands.

“Who said I was trying to be a spy?” he says, the Half Baked logo barely obscured by his fingers.

Eddie points with a deadpan expression. “Then why are you sneaking out of here with my ice cream?”  

Lu looks at him with wide eyes before booking it to the bedroom and closing the door behind him. Eddie’s indignant, laughing as he tries to unlock the door from the other side, knowing full well that Lu hasn’t actually locked it, he’s just leaning against it.

“Roberto Luongo, you give me my ice cream back right now, or-”

“Or what?” comes the teasing voice from the other side of the door.

“Or I’ll cry. You’d seriously make your boyfriend cry?” Eddie asks, wedging his shoulder against the door. He gains a few inches before the door flies open and he has to catch himself, lest he send the door into the wall. Lu’s sitting on the bed, a spoon in his mouth, a brow arched in the face of Eddie’s struggles.

“…Did you at least get me a spoon?”

Lu doesn’t verbally answer, but picks up a spoon Eddie hadn’t seen on the bedside table, before gesturing to the pulled back covers beside him. Eddie grins and launches himself onto the bed, despite Lu’s huff of annoyance. He takes the offered spoon and swipes out a bite from the container, humming as he sucks on the ice cream in his mouth. It feels good to wiggle under the covers with ice cream in his mouth and Lu at his side.

“I could get used to this,” he murmurs, crunching on some cookie dough.

“Used to what?”

“The best threesome ever; me, my boyfriend, and some ice cream.”

That gets him a laugh, and Eddie hums at the familiar, safe sound. But Lu’s next words throw him off. “I was thinking that we could…I dunno, spice it up next time.”

Eddie makes a curious noise, prompting Lu to continue. “I dunno, I just think it would be better if it were me, my fiancé, and some ice cream. But I guess boyfriend works for now.”

Eddie feels his face burn bright red as his body freezes, trying to comprehend what Lu had so casually just said. Part of him wonders if he’d even heard him correctly, but he doesn’t want to ask him to repeat himself, in case he had misheard. “O-oh?”

Lu just nods, looking briefly up at Eddie. If Eddie didn’t know any better, he would believe that Lu had only meant it in an offhanded way. A casual type of question. But instead, he asks again, “Oh?”

“Well…I mean, if you wanted to. I’m not going to force you into it, that’d be fucked up.” Lu shrugs, scraping his spoon along the bottom of the pint.

“You’re so bad at feigning casual,” Eddie teases, shyly snuggling closer. “But I’d say yes. Even though you technically haven’t asked.”

“So… _if_ I were to propose, at some point…you’d be okay with it?”

“Hey now, don’t be putting false hopes out here.”

They look at each other, deep Canadian brown meeting icy Swedish blue, and they laugh. They _have_ to. “Lu, though. Seriously. You have to know that there’s no doubt in my mind that I would say yes. I…I’d be so happy to be yours.”

“…Okay,” Lu murmurs, pulling Eddie down into another kiss. The North Carolina rain is nowhere to be found, having moved further up the Outer Banks to bother someone else. It’s not Florida, but it could be home, and Eddie was right.

He could get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> pls hmu on [tumblr](https://matskreider.tumblr.com/) to talk more abt them if u want


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